Roping method and apparatus



Oct. 29, 1968 w. FEES E ROPING METHOD AND APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 25, 1967 Oct. 29, 1968 w. FEESE 3,407,588

ROPING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Jan. 23, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet '2 Oct. 29, 1968 w. FEESE 3, ,5

ROPING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Jan. 23, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,407,588 ROPING METHOD AND APPARATUS Wolfgang Feese, Berlin, Germany, assignor to Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Jan. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 611,089

Claims priority, application Germany, Jan. 31, 1966,

12 Claims. (Cl. 57-5834) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A roping method and apparatus wherein strands are pulled from supply reels which have stationary axes, respectively, and are delivered by a first twisting means to a storing means while the first twisting means imparts a double twist to the strands, a given section of the cable being temporarily stored at the storing means with this stored section having a uniform twist and twist length, and wherein a second twisting means withdraws the cable from the storing means subsequent to the storing of a given section of cable therein, this second twisting means imparting a second double twist to the cable so that with the method and apparatus of the invention a cable with a fourfold twist is provided;

My invention relates to the roping of strands into cable.

During the manufacture of communication cable it has up to the present time been in general conventional to twist the individual strands into a continuous coil, with either the supply assembly from which the strands are derived or the take-up assembly onto which the twisted cable is wound rotating together with the reels thereof. The rotating supply or take-up reels provide undesirably large rotary masses which do not enable high outputs to be achieved, so that manufacture of the cable at a desirable rate is not possible.

There are known roping methods and apparatus for manufacturing communication cable where the strands which are twisted are periodically roped in different twist directions. The advantage of this latter method and apparatus as compared to previously known methods and apparatus where the twist provides a continuous coil resides above all in the fact that the heavy supply and take-up reels no longer are required to be rotated, so that the manufacturing speed can be substantially increased. Thus, for example, a known method for stepwise roping of strands with alternating twist directions or twist lengths to produce communication cable is disclosed in US. Patent 3,169,360, where the strands are individually derived from supply reels which have stationary axes, these strands then being twisted in a rotary twisting apparatus. According to this patent the twisting apparatus includes a rotary frame which carries a pair of rolls respectively having parallel axes which extend transversely with respect to the throughput direction of the strands, these rolls acting as an intermediate accumulating or storing means for the strands. During the twisting a given section of the cable which has a uniform twist direction and twist length is stored at the storing means formed by these rools, and then with a different twisting direction the stored strands are withdrawn from the storing rolls. This known method and apparatus makes it possible to provide a cable having successive sections which are differently twisted and which may have any desired number of twists therein. However, this known method and apparatus has the disadvantage of requiring the storing rolls to rotate about the twist axis with the number of revolutions required for twisting. The manufacturing speed of such an apparatus is therefore limited, not only because of the necessity of rotating the storing means but also be;

cause of the necessity of periodically quickly braking and accelerating the storing rolls.

A primary object of my invention is to provide a method and apparatus which will greatly improve the manufacture of communication cable having successive sections which are respectively twisted diiferently one with respect to the next-following section.

In particular, it is an object of my invention to provide a roping method and apparatus according to which it becomes possible to twist the strands of a given section of uniform twist direction and twist length with a double twist while leading this section to a storing means situated within a rotary twisting apparatus and capable also of withdrawing the thus-stored cable section from the storing means while imparting to the cable during withdrawal thereof from the storing means a second double twist.

When providing a double twist in a cable with a known roping apparatus and method, the strands are twisted by means of a rotary twisting frame which turns around a take-up reel while the cable is delivered to the latter takeup reel in a direction which is opposed to the direction in which the strands are pulled from the supply reels. According to my invention, however, the individual strands are twisted with a double twist while being delivered to the storing means and are also twisted with a double twist while being withdrawn from the storing means. This method and apparatus of my invention has the advantage of requiring only parts of the twisting apparatus which are of relatively small mass to be rotated about the twisting axis.

Thus, it is an object of my invention to provide a roping method and apparatus capable of providing in the twisted strands a fourfold twist, so that as compared to known double-twist methods and apparatus, it is only required to provide one half the number of revolutions with the method and apparatus of my invention, and thus the speed with which the cable is withdrawn from the apparatus can be increased. This latter advantage is obtained above all when, in accordance with a further feature of my invention, during the withdrawal of one section of cable of uniform twist length and twist direction from the intermediate storing means with a double twist there is at the same time delivered to the storing means the next-following section of twisted strands also with a double twist, while the operation of the twisting apparatus is periodically changed from one cable section to the next either with respect to the direction of twist or with respect to the number of rotations of the twisting apparatus.

In accordance with one feature of my invention the strands are twisted while being delivered to and from the storing means by a pair of twisting frames which advantageously are symmetrically arranged with respect to each other. These twisting frames have a common axis which coincides with the twisting axis, and the twisting frames are rotated either in different directions, for the different cable sections, or at dilferent numbers of revolutions for the different successive cable sections. During the period of time required for movement of one cable section through the storing means, the rotary twisting frames turn at a constant speed and in the same direction.

My invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIGS. 1-3 are respectively schematic illustrations in side elevation of different possible embodiments of roping apparatus and methods of my invention, and

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the manner in which the embodiment of FIG. 1 can be used in a roping apparatus :for combining a plurality of quads into a single cable bundle.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated therein a substantially U-shaped supporting frame 1 which supports for rotary movement a pair of rotary twisting frames 2 and 3 which are symmetrically arranged with respect to each other and which are supported for rotation at the locations 4 and 5, so as to form the roping apparatus shown schematically in FIG. 1. In order to guide the cable 6 which is formed from four individual strands, guide rollers 7 are provided for guiding the cable and changing the direction of movement thereof, these guide rollers 7 being supported for rotary movement on the twisting frame 2, while the twisting frame 3 has additional guide rollers 8 mounted thereon for rotary movement. The pair of twisting frames 2 and 3 rotate about a given space in which an intermediate storing means is situated, this storing means taking, in FIG. 1, the form of a single accumulator roll 9 which is supported for free rotary movement at the bearing locations 10 and 11 of the twisting frames. The axis of rotation of the accumulator roll 9 extends perpendicularly across the twisting axis, and the accumulator roll 9 is supported for free rotary movement on a suitable shaft which is fixed to and extends upwardly from the lower portion of a substantially U-shaped supporting frame 12 which carries the rotary guide rollers 13 for the cable 6. According to one of the important features of my invention, the rotary accumulator roll 9 has a stationary axis of rotation so that it does not take part in the rotary movements required for twisting the strands.

The four individual strands when entering into the roping apparatus of my invention in the direction of the arrow shown at the left of FIG. 1, are twisted at the twisting point 14. In this way the strands are twisted into the cable 6 which then by means of the guide rollers 7 is guided around the intermediate storing means 9 and while being advanced in a direction opposed to that in which the strands are withdrawn from their supply reels is wound onto the accumulator roll 9 which simply rotates freely as a result of the winding of the cable thereon. As a result the cable 6 is again twisted in the same direction, so that in a manner which is known per se a double twist is imparted to the cable.

A predetermined section of cable having a uniform twist direction and twist length is thus stored on the storing means 9, and then while the apparatus provides a different twisting direction the cable is withdrawn from the storing means. During withdrawal of the thusstored section from the storing means 9, the twisted cable 6 is guided by the guide rollers 8 of the twisting frame 3 and has a second double twist imparted thereto since the twist direction has changed with respect to the direction of twist during the initial storing of the cable at the storing means 9, or it is possible to achieve a similar result by providing during withdrawal of a given section of cable a different number of revolutions from that which was provided during delivery of the cable to the storage means. As a result the cable which is derived from the twisting apparatus and method of my invention has a fourfold twist. This latter result is achieved by providing for the successive cable sections either different directions of rotating of the twisting frames 2 and 3, by periodically changing the directions of rotation thereof, or by providing different number of revolutions of the twisting frames for the successive sections, while maintaining a constant rotary movement for the twisting frames during movement of a given section of cable through the storing means. Inasmuch as the twisting frames have only a relatively small mass, and inasmuch as it is only required to accelerate and decelerate these relatively small masses to achieve the successive cable sections which are differently twisted one with respect to the next, and in addition because of the fact that the cable of my invention is roped with a fourfold twist, it is possible to considerably increase the speed with which the cable is withdrawn from the apparatus, as compared to known output speeds.

Assuming, for example, that the symmetrically arranged twisting frames 2 and 3 are rotated in a lefthand direction at a rotary speed n and that the cable 6 is withdrawn from the roping apparatus at a constant speed, then the individual strands will receive a right twist at the twisting point 14, corresponding to the relationship: s=v/n where v is the withdrawal speed and n is the number of revolutions of the twisting frame. During delivery of the cable 6 to the storing means, the cable is again twisted in a manner known per se, so that there is provided a twist of s=v/2n.

Assuming now that the direction of rotary movement of the twisting apparatus is reversed, as soon as the storing means has wound thereon a predetermined cable section having strands which are twisted in a righthand direction, the cable 6 within the twisting frame 2 is now provided with a lefthand twist while at the cable twisting frame 3 the strands receive a righthand twist. The twist direction of the roped cable 6 during delivery thereof from the twisting apparatus of my invention is thus also in a righthand direction, so that the twist lengths of the cable derived from the method and apparatus of my invention is s=v/ 4n.

Instead of rotating the frames 2 and 3 in different directions for the successive sections, it is also possible, as mentioned above, to select during withdrawal of a given section through the frame 3 while simultaneously delivering the next section to the storing means, a number of revolutions for the twisting apparatus which differs from, the number of revolutions thereof during! the initial movement of the given cable section through the twisting frame 2. Thus, it is possible to select during withdrawal of a given section of cable from thestoring means a number of revolutions for the twisting apparar tus which is either greater or less than the number of revolutions used during the initial storing of a given cable section onto the accumulator roll. Assuming that the withdrawal speed is maintained constant, the twist length will then be inversely proportional to the difference between the different numbers of revolutions used for the successive sections. A relatively large difference in the number of revolutions from one cable section to the next, with the same twisting direction, will thus result in a sharp difference between the twist lengths of the successive sections of the cable.

According to a further feature of my invention, the strands which are delivered to the storing means and which are wtihdrawn from the storing means are guided by guide rollers which are supported for rotary movement by a support means in the form of suitable brackets which are situated laterally beside the intermediate accumulator roll structure. An example of such a construction is illustrated in FIG. 2. Instead of the rotary twisting frames 2 and 3 this embodiment has the guide rollers 15 and 16 around which the cable is guided so as have its direction of movement changed, and the rollers 15 are supported for rotary movement by brackets 17 which form a support means for these rollers, while the rollers 16 are supported for rotary movement by brackets 18 which also form a support means of my invention. The elimination of part of the twisting frame results in further reduction of the rotary masses, so that the speed with which the cable is withdrawn from the apparatus can be increased even more. Thus, with the embodiment of FIG. 2 while the brackets 17 and 18 rotate about the twisting axis together with the guide rollers 15 and 16, the cable extends freely in a direction parallel to the twisting axis between the rollers 15 on the one hand, and between the rollers 16 on the other hand, so that the rotary masses are considerably reduced in this way.

It is also possible in accordance with my invention to form the storing means from a pair of accumulator rolls which have parallel axes, respectively, and these parallel axes of the accumulator rolls may extend parallel to the twisting axis. This construction is also illustrated in FIG. 2 where the pair of accumulator rolls 19 and 20 are illustrated. The accumulator roll 20 serves to distribute the windings of the cable onto the accumulator 19, and these rolls 19 and 20 are arranged in such a Way that the space around which the twisting frames or cable turns so as to be enclosed thereby is used in a much more favorable manner with an arrangement as shown in FIG. 2, so that the storing capacity is increased. In order to guide the cable 6 during introduction thereof into the roping apparatus or to guide the latter during delivery to and from the storing means, guide rollers 21 are provided. In order to make favorable use of the interior space where the storing means is situated, it is furthermore possible to arrange the axes of the pair of storing rolls so that the latter axes are inclined with respect to the twisting axis.

Furthermore, it is possible to situate the rollers 16 at the same elevation as the rollers behind the latter in the plane of the drawing of FIG. 2, and in this case the cable 6 after passing through the storing means will be guided to the guide rollers 16 which are at the same elevation as the rollers 15. In this way it is possible to operate with a single twisting frame or with only one set of guide roller supporting brackets 17.

FIG. 3 illustrates yet another embodiment of a method and apparatus of my invention for providing a cable having a fourfold twist with successive cable sections twisted differently one from the next, such as by having the successive sections twisted in different directions. The method and apparatus of this embodiment also includes, as was the case with FIG. 1, a pair of symmetrically arranged rotary twisting frames 2 and 3. The storing means, however, takes the form of a pair of accumulator rolls 22 and 23 which respectively have parallel axes which are perpendicular to the twisting axis, and the accumulator roll 22 is formed with grooves which extend circumferentially about the accumulator roll so that the roll 22 can be used for distributing turns of the stored cable onto the accumulator roll 23. In this case also the axes of the accumulator rolls remains stationary.

The above-described embodiments of my invention which are illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 can be used in precisely the same way for the purpose of roping individual strands into cable, as well as for the purpose of manufacturing cable bundles composed of groups of two, three, or five cable units, and also for the purpose of manufacturing main cable bundles from quads, pairs, or threeunit cables. Such an installation will be composed primarily of the delivery apparatus, the apparatus for providing the different twists in the successive sections, and the cable bundling apparatus. Thus, for example, during manufacture of a basic cable bundle from five star quads with strands derived from 20 supply reels, five twisting assemblies each providing different twists for the successive cable sections will be required, with these twisting units or assemblies having, for example, the structure shown in FIG. 1 and described in greater detail above. All of these twisting assemblies, each of which has the structure of FIG. 1, will then be combined into a single unit. I

In order to uncouple the cable in the immediate vicinity of the location where the twist thereof is reversed, it has proved to be particularly advantageous to provide different directions of rotation for the twisting frames of the twisting apparatus at different times corresponding to the roping of the successive cable sections. It is also possible, however, to provide for the individual strands paths of movement from the twisting apparatus to the primary twisting point for the cable bundle which are of different lengths, so that in this case the twisting frames can simultaneously change their direction of rotation.

An apparatus where a plurality of quads are treated with the method and apparatus of my invention as shown in FIG. 1 and then combined into a single cable bundle is schematically illustrated in FIG. 4. Thus, referring to FIG. 4 it will be seen that the structure illustrated therein will provide a communication cable composed of groups of twisted cable with four twisting assemblies, each corresponding to that of FIG. 1, arranged in parallel for twisting the strands into four cables as described above in connection with FIG. 1, after which the several cables are twisted together to form the final bundle. This latter bundle is wound up onto a suitable take-up reel. With this construction the twisted strands of each unit which for each cable section have a uniform twist length and twist direction are stored on the storing means 9 at each assembly, this storing means 9 being arranged within the space about which the pair of twisting frames 2 and 3 of each assembly rotates. Each quad 26 is made up of the four strands 25 and is guided in each twisting assembly by the guide rollers 7 and 8 of the twisting frames 2 and 3 in the manner described above. The accumulator roll 9 of each assembly of course cooperates in the manner described above with the guide rollers 13 for the twisted quads 26.

The four individual strands 25 which move into each twisting assembly are provided with a fourfold twist in the manner described above in connection with FIG. 1. Thus, when each quad 26 reaches an accumulator roll 9 it already has a double twist imparted thereto, and upon being Withdrawn from the storing means each quad will have a second double twist imparted thereto in the manner described above. As was pointed out above, this method and apparatus of my invention has the advantage, as compared to known methods and apparatus, of requiring only half the number of revolutions and thus permitting the withdrawal speed to be increased. Also, as was pointed out above, instead of providing for the successive cable sections different directions of twist, it is possible to provide different numbers of revolutions for the twisting frames for the successive cable sections of each quad.

In order to combine the several quads into the bundle 40, which is composed of the four quads 26 in the ex ample of FIG. 4, these quads are guided through a guide assembly 41 which is provided with guide rollers 42 so that the several quads reach the twisting point of the rotary twisting frame 43 which is provided for the entire group of quads. This rotary twisting frame 43 is composed primarily of a pair of storing rolls 44 and 45 around which the twisted quads are wound, and by periodically reversing the direction of rotation of the frame 43* a double twist is provided in the twisted bundle and then by way of guide rollers 46 the bundle is taken up onto a take-up reel 47 which has a stationary axis of rotation.

Thus, in accordance with my invention each cable section while being delivered to a storing means will be twisted in one way while the same cable section while being withdrawn from the storing means will be twisted in a different way, and during feeding of a given cable section to the storing means a double twist will be imparted thereto while during withdrawal of the same section from the storing means a second double twist is imparted thereto, so that in this way a fourfold twist is provided.

Through the use of my invention to provide a fourfold twist in the cable while using the intermediate storing means as described above, the speed of withdrawal of the cable from the apparatus can be increased fourfold, as compared to conventional operations.

It will be noted that in the embodiment of my invention which is illustrated in FIG. 4, the several twisted quads 26, each of which is composed of the strands 25, are twisted in parallel and are immediately thereafter formed into the bundle 40. In this way a particularly favorable method and apparatus for manufacturing a cable bundle is provided, since the necessary twist of the strands 25 required for uncoupling the individual speaking circuits need only be determined during the manufacture of the cable, so that an expensive apparatus for maintaining the strands with different twists therein can be eliminated. It will be noted from. FIG. 4 that the individual strands 25 are respectively derived from reels 24, which respectively have stationary axes. The driving transmission used for rotating the twisting frames includes the gearing 28 which is schematically illustrated in FIG. 4.

I claim:

1. In a method for roping strands into a communication cable in a stepwise manner providing the cable with successive sections each of which is twisted differently from the next-following section, the steps of pulling the strands from reels, respectively, which have stationary axes, respectively, storing a given section of uniform twist direction and twist'length during the twisting thereof, then withdrawing the thus-stored section while twisting the next-following section in a different manner, and imparting to the thus-stored section a double twist while it is being stored and a second double twist while it is being withdrawn after being stored.

2. The method of claiml and wherein during withdrawal of the thus-stored section after the latter has been stored, the next-following section is stored while being simultaneously twisted with a double twist.

3. The method of claim 1 and wherein the twisting of the successive sections is carried out with periodically changing twisting directions, respectively, to provide the differently twisted successive cable sections.

4. In a method as recited in claim 1 and wherein the number of revolutions of the rotary twisting apparatus used to twist the successive sections of cable is periodically changed from one cable section to the next cable section so as to provide the successive differently twisted sections.

5. In a roping apparatus for twisting strands into a cable, at least one rotary accumulator roll forming an intermediate storing means and having a stationary axis of rotation, and a pair of rotary twisting frames rotating about said accumulator roll and respectively feeding the strands to and from said roll, and said frame which feeds the strands to said accumulator roll providing a double twist in the cable while said rotary twisting frame which withdraws the cable from said roll also provides a double twist in the cable.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said twisting frames are symmetrically arranged with respect to each other.

7. In a roping apparatus for twisting strands into a cable, an accumulator roll forming a storing means for a given section of cable which has a uniform twist and twist length, said roll having a stationary axis of rotation, support means situated adjacent said accumulator roll, and a plurality of guide rollers supported for rotary 'movement by said support means and guiding cable to and from said accumulator roll.

8. In an apparatus for roping strands into a cable, a single rotary accumulator roll forming a storing means for a given section of cable of uniform twist and twist length and having a stationary axis of rotation, and a pair of twisting means for respectively directing cable to and from said storing means, and each of said twisting means providing a double twist in the cable during movement there.- of with respect to said storing means.

9. In an apparatus for roping strands into a cable, a pair of accumulator rolls respectively having parallel axes of rotation and forming a storing means for-storing a given section of cable of uniform twist and twist length, one of said rolls being formed with grooves for distributing turns of the cable on the other of said rolls, and a pair of twisting means coacting with said storing means for leading cable to and from the latter, respectively, while each of said twisting means provides a .double twist in the cable.

10. The combination of claim 9 and wherein said rolls respectively have stationary axes of rotation.

11. In an apparatus for roping strands into a'cable, first twisting means for twisting the strands with a double twist while leading the latter to a given space, second twisting means for withdrawing the strands'from the latter space while giving to the strands an additional double twist, so that a cable with a fourfold twist is provided, and storing means situated in said space and receiving the cable from said first twisting means while delivering the cable to said second twisting means.

12. The combination of claim 11 and wherein a plurality of said first twisting means respectively coact with a plurality of said second twisting means for forming a plurality of twisting assemblies from which cables with fourfold twists are respectively derived to be subsequently combined into a single cable, and each of said assemblies having a storing means situated at said space thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,858,528 5/1932 Somerville 5758.63 2,099,876 11/1937 Weaver 57,58.61 XR 2,714,282 8/ 1955 Rozieres 5734 2,956,391 10/1960 Demmel et al 5760 2,998,694 9/ 1961 Haugwitz 5758.7 XR 3,169,360 2/ 1965 Corrall et a1 5734 3,348,369 10/1967 Burr 5758.65 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 1,011,865 4/1952 France.

910,431 4/ 1943 Germany.

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner. DONALD E. WATKINS, Assistant Examiner. 

